Beautification set along Glades Road

Work will include landscaping and addition of street lighting

A construction and beautification project is under way along Glades Road near the intersection with Federal Highway in Boca Raton.

The Glades Road Improvement Project's approximate $359,000 cost is being financed through Community Development Block Grant funds.

Work includes an upgrade in landscaping and plantings, a reorientation of seedling areas, the addition of street lighting, and the construction of a wall and entranceway in front of Hughes Park and the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, said Teresa McClurg, Boca Raton's community improvement administrator.

Although Glades Road separates historic Pearl City to the south from Lincoln Court to the north, city planners said the community wanted to create more of a uniform appearance between the two areas.

"It will visually tie in so that you no longer have a feeling that they are just two completely separate neighborhoods," McClurg said.

The project will also include installation of historical markers to highlight the significance of the area.

Hughes Park in Lincoln Court, named after Pearl City's first African-American resident, is across the street from the memorial. In 1915, Alex Hughes bought a parcel on Dixie Highway and Northeast 11th Street and later built a house on it, said his granddaughter, Geri Spain. Hughes died in 1977 at age 92. A historical marker that commemorates him will be placed in the park.

"He made a difference, and he had so much less than what I have today. And we can certainly do the same," she said.

McCabe Brothers Construction of Delray Beach began work in early June and should complete the project by September, McClurg said.

The project is the second-to-last phase of the city's Pearl City Master Plan, which includes numerous projects totaling about $5 million. The overall goal is to improve the infrastructure and appearance of the various neighborhoods in greater Pearl City, including the historic Pearl City, Lincoln Court, Hughes Park, and Dixie Manor areas, said Jorge Camejo, Boca Raton's director of development services.

"The master plan, from the infrastructure and beautification standpoint, has been extremely successful," Camejo said. "If you drive through that neighborhood today, you'll see just a huge change and improvement in the neighborhood. You see sidewalks, landscaping, streetlights, uniform street signs, neighborhood entranceways - just a wholesale improvement that has made a significant difference aesthetically in the neighborhood."

Before the City Council finalized and approved the plan in 2000, community members and civic leaders had a series of workshops with city officials to formulate concepts. The Pearl City Blue Ribbon Committee, composed of community members, was created to oversee implementation of the master plan.

The final phase of the master plan, which will improve areas along Dixie Highway, is undergoing its final design and approval process, McClurg said. She said the city anticipates those improvements to be completed by the end of the year or early 2009.